Patient dies after catching coronavirus at ‘COVID party’ in Texas – The Jerusalem Post

A patient in their 30s who contracted the novel coronavirus at a “COVID party” in San Antonio, Texas, passed away from the virus, local NBC and Fox affiliates WOAI/KABB reported.

A COVID party is a party hosted by a diagnosed COVID-19 patient to see if guests get infected. According to Methodist Healthcare’s chief medical officer Dr. Jane Appleby, the core idea of these parties is to see if the virus is real.

“Just before the patient died, they looked at their nurse and said ‘I think I made a mistake, I thought this was a hoax, but it’s not,'” Appleby said, according to the TV stations.

Other states have also seen COVID parties being held, such as Washington state and Alabama.

COVID-19 cases in Texas, including in Bexar County, where San Antonio is, have spiked considerably in recent days as the pandemic continues to worsen throughout the US. Positive coronavirus tests spiked to 22% in the south-central county.

“This is a concerning increase from a positive rate of about 5% only several weeks ago,” Appleby explained, according to WOAI/KABB.

The coronavirus “doesn’t discriminate and none of us are invincible,” she added, according to the report. “I don’t want to be an alarmist, and we’re just trying to share some real-world examples to help our community realize that this virus is very serious and can spread easily.”